Week 16 entry...
Lucas Kellerman was an average ten year old boy.
He had brown hair and brown eyes. His smile was the same crooked-toothed grin all kids have at that age. He wasn't any taller or shorter than the other kids in the neighborhood. While he didn't get chosen first for kickball at recess, he was never chosen last, either. He had the usual number of friends, was liked by his teachers and adored by his little sister (when he wasn't picking on her, that is), and was a seemingly regular kid in every way. He did have one rather unusual talent, though.
Lucas could reset the world.
He didn't know how or why he had this ability; he didn't even remember he had it each time the world began until it was almost time to use it once more. He simply grew up again and again with his parents and eventually his little sister Nikki. The details of their lives changed each time (location, houses, his parents' careers, pets), but the path they were on was always the same -- a path that ended on the last day of May of the year he was ten.
This morning, Lucas had woken up, played with one of his hand-held video games for a few minutes, fed his bird, Stanley, and then went downstairs to the kitchen for breakfast. His dad had left for work an hour before, but his mom was there, bustling about.
"What kind of juice today, honey?" she asked as he sat down in his chair at the table. "We have apple, orange, grapefruit-"
"Grapefruit!" he said, indicating he wanted a big glass. Grapefruit juice was his favorite. His mother set a bowl of oatmeal with brown sugar on top in front of him, then poured his glass of juice and put it down by his bowl.
"I'm going to go get changed, Lucas," she said as she closed the fridge door and put the various breakfast boxes away. "I'll take you two to school and then I'll be out all day doing errands and appointments. I'll be picking your father up from work early, though, and we'll be back before you get home, though. Remember, tacos for dinner tonight, so don't fill up on any junk at school!"
Lucas nodded, scooping the hot oatmeal to his lips as he looked around the kitchen. His mom had already cut fresh flowers for the day, he saw, the beautiful blues and whites peeking out from the vases in the window sill. The fridge was covered in new pictures of Nikki's, each one stuck up next to the other until the whole front and side looked like one big crayon scrawl. He smiled as he recognized Stanley flying across one of the pictures. He turned back to his breakfast, his eyes glancing across the morning paper his father had left behind. His eyes widened and his breath caught as he read the date at the top.
Today was May 31. He knew it meant something, but as would happen every tenth year, it would take most of the day for it all to surface to his conscious memory. He never knew how his brain could retain the memories from ten, twenty, fifty lifetimes and never remember it until the last day, but nevertheless, it was the same every time. All through school that day, flashes of himself and his family would come to him, filling him with urgency as he tried to remember what would go wrong today -- what had gone wrong every May 31 since he was born for the first time.
By the time school ended, he was certain that whatever it was that would happen, or had already happened, was awful, and he was anxious to collect his sister and walk the half mile back to the house. Nikki was waiting for him at the appointed spot outside the school's main entryway, and as soon as he looked at her, he knew she felt it, too. She reached for his hand as soon as he came up to her, something she was usually far too 'big' to do these days.
"Let's hurry, Nikki," he said as they rushed down the sidewalk. "Let's get home to Mom and Dad."
As soon as he said it, he felt a stabbing pain through his chest; he stumbled, falling into the grass at the edge of the sidewalk. Nikki knelt down beside him, still clutching his hand. Looking at her pained face, he wondered if she'd felt the same thing. Without a word, they stood together and continued their dash for home. They ran up to the back door, Lucas twisting the knob as he banged into the door, expecting it to swing open as usual to reveal his mom on the other side, perhaps with some warm bread or cinnamon rolls, and always with a big smile.
The door hadn't opened, and the doorknob hadn't turned -- it was still locked. He fumbled for his key in one of the little pockets of his backpack and finally got the door open. It took only a few moments for them to search the house and confirm that their parents weren't home. He now knew what it meant, and he could feel the tears beginning to sting his eyes.
Slipping her backpack off her shoulders, he gently told Nikki to go wait upstairs; when she went quietly without a protest (she never liked him telling her what to do), he knew that she had realized the same truth he had. Lucas crossed to the living room and sat down on the couch to wait.
A few hours later, there was a knocking at the door, and Lucas could see the lights of the patrol cars outside. He opened the door to find a kindly older lady, who confirmed he was Lucas Kellerman before asking if she could talk to him for a bit. He already knew what she was going to say, but he let her and the officers in anyway.
They quietly explained, just as their predecessors had done each time before, about the awful traffic accident that had occurred that afternoon when a freeway overpass had collapsed. They told him eight people had been killed, and then confirmed at last what he'd known for hours, that he and Nikki's parents wouldn't be coming home ever again. He let them talk, nodding in the right places to show he understood they'd be taken to their grandparents for the night, and finally excused himself to go upstairs to Nikki. He could hear the murmurs of Such a brave little boy and The poor dears as he went up the stairs to his sister's room. He opened her door and saw her sitting on her bed; she'd gotten out all her dolls and piled them around her.
"Again, Lucas?" his sister asked without looking up, her fingers twisting the long braid of her favorite doll. He sat down beside her, his silence answering the question as well as any words. She leaned against him, and he put his arm around her. They sat like that for a while, the same tears falling from their eyes; this night never got any easier.
Finally, they stood and looked around the room. After setting her doll down on her pillow, Nikki went to the corner and emptied her stuffed animals out of the large woven basket that held them. It was an old basket, its two handles worn smooth from continued use, but it was not frayed or split at all. It had a pattern of stars woven into it, though they often went unnoticed unless someone looked closely. Lucas took her hand and quietly they went downstairs and out the back door, avoiding the officers still milling around the living and dining rooms. The warm night air welcomed them as they went to the flower garden, the slight breeze drying the last of their tears.
"Ready?" he asked, putting his hand on her head and ruffling her hair. She nodded as she smiled up at him. He could hear her thought of Maybe this time, they'll be home as clearly as if she'd spoken it, and knew it mirrored his own. Together, they turned and looked up at the moon shining brightly above them.
Standing on his tiptoes, Lucas reached up and tore open the sky, his little sister holding the basket high above her head to catch the falling stars.
This is my entry for the sixteenth week of Season 8 of therealljidol. The prompt this week was 'reinventing the wheel'. As always, thanks for reading.